Chamber and committees

The Fair Fares Review, published on 22 March 2024, considered the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available across all modes including bus, rail and ferry.

On bus travel, the Review maintains existing eligibility to the National Concessionary Travel Schemes for those groups who currently benefit, which comprise over 2.3 million people across Scotland – a higher percentage than anywhere else in the UK and commits to development of a proposal for a bus flat fares pilot for an area-based scheme to provide flat fares on bus travel, or reduced fares on zonal integrated travel for consideration in future budgets.

In addition, the Review has recommended that further policy development work be undertaken by the Scottish Government to consider better targeting of public funds towards supporting access to public transport for those who need it most, including consideration of concessionary travel support for those experiencing financial poverty.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26609 on 17 April 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26336 on‎ 11 April 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The responsibility for licensing and regulating operators of public service vehicles (PSVs) and local bus services sits with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. It is for their office to take action against a vehicle operator, bus service operator or driver of a bus or minibus and they can impose financial penalties on registered bus service operators who are unable to maintain the conditions of the licence of the registered route including punctuality of services.

Transport Scotland also provides funding for Bus Users Scotland (BUS) to support this. BUS conduct compliance monitoring to check bus services are running where and when they should be. They also focus on working with government, local authorities, special interest groups, and bus companies to make sure the views and interests of passengers are properly represented.

Additionally, the Scottish Government’s recently published Bus Taskforce report outlines the positive steps taken by operators to address bus driver shortages which can be a factor impacting the reliability of services. The report can be found at https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/bus-taskforce-summary-report/

The Community Bus Fund is intended to support local transport authorities to improve local public transport in their areas. This can include exploring the full range of options set out in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, including Bus Services Improvement Partnerships.

In 2023-24, the Community Bus Fund provided £750,000 in resource funding for transport authorities to complete initial feasibility and preparatory work required for the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. A further £5 million of capital funding was allocated to local authorities, with greater levels of support for rural areas facing different challenges to those in cities.

The Scottish Government Homelessness in Scotland statistics are based on data collected from all local authorities, on households that have made a homelessness application to a local authority.

This data collection includes information on whether any adult member, aged under 25, of a household making a homelessness application to a local authority was looked after as a child by their local authority.

The data provided on looked after status will largely be self-reported by applicant households. Applicants can choose whether to answer the question, or they may not know if any other adults aged under 25 in the household have previously been looked after.

It is important to note that through the Redesign of Urgent Care Programme, NHS 24 is available 24/7 and will be able to assist patients across Scotland, including the North East Scotland region, access the most appropriate healthcare pathway over a 24 hour period.

The decision to close the service overnight is an operational decision for local health boards and integrated joint boards to get the best combination of local and specialist services that meets the needs of their population in line with the National Clinical Strategy. It has been reported by NHS Grampian that this bring this service in line with other services across Moray and Aberdeen City. The Scottish Government do not have a specific policy on the provision of Minor Injury Units in communities.

It is important to stress that these Minor Injury Units will continue to operate during the day and the Board report that there is minimal activity at these units during the out of hours period. These services are only equipped to deal with minor injuries which do not need immediate attention. Those patients that may have attended the MIU during the proposed closure times will either be provided with a scheduled appointment through NHS 24 to attend the next morning, or if an emergency will be directed straight to A&E.

Minor injury services are also available at the majority of the local GP practices.

The Scottish Government continues to support NHS Dumfries and Galloway respond to the cyber-attack through the provision of the Scottish multi-agency cyber incident support arrangements. These arrangements bring national agencies, including the National Cyber Security Centre, law enforcement (including Police Scotland), NHS Cyber Security Centre of Excellence, NHS Boards and the Scottish Government together to support the response and recovery to the incident.

For further information I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-01869 on 19 March 2024 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament .

Scottish Government has confirmed funding for the Workforce Specialist Service (WSS) for 2024-25 and the current contract will be extended for a further 12 months. WSS provides confidential mental health assessment and treatment for regulated health, social care and social work professionals in Scotland.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 (the Act) requires the Scottish Ministers to prepare and maintain a public register of all property factors and to consider whether a property factor is a fit and proper person to be registered as a property factor.

Under the Act, Scottish Ministers must prepare a property factor code of conduct setting out the minimum standards of practice expected of registered property factors. A Code of Conduct was introduced on 1 October 2012. We revised the Code in August 2021 to make it clearer, to drive up standards and to improve consistency, without placing an undue burden on companies that might result in significant additional costs being passed on to homeowners. The changes ensured the Code remained up to date and responded to concerns raised by homeowners as well as supporting important wider policy objectives around tenement maintenance.

A dispute resolution mechanism is provided for the resolution of disputes between homeowners and property factors through the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) (the First-tier Tribunal). This provides free access to justice for homeowners and there is evidence provided in the First-tier Tribunal's published Annual Reports noting the number of applications it has received. The most recent report demonstrates that homeowners are taking action against their Property Factor where they believe their Property Factor has not met the requirements of the Code of Conduct, or carried out their duties under the Act.